Whenever we see this, I think back on the Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, the original radio version, which had a skit involving a woman who intentionally broke her arm. “Because it’s not enough to climb Everest, you have to climb Everest with every bone broken.”

We set up an entire system of rewarding grievance and victimhood with power, and we’re surprised that smart people have managed to hijack it. Yes, they’re debasing themselves, but it’s not any different than breaking your arm to win the handicap award, or putting a flag in your window to show loyalty to the state. It’s just how you’re expected to play the game.

One of most significant turning points in my political-economic education and moving towards NRx was when I realised (reading The Last Psychiatrist, incidentally) that in a system tending towards chaos (like the Progressive one we’re living in) the incentive structure of pretty much every profession is completely pozzed (and this includes professional victims). In this system psychologists have an obvious interest in there being more mentally-ill (nominally or otherwise) people; lawyers have an obvious interest in there being less effective legislation (but more bad legislation); professors have an interest in proliferation of falsehoods; technology and pharmaceuticals companies have an interest in products and drugs that don’t work properly or have little longevity so that you keep coming back for more.